The Legendary Defender Voltron -the God Lion Beast King
by Dark SpellMaster
Summary: When a group of rag-tag cadets of the Galaxy Garrison are whisked away from Earth, none of them thought they would end up in a century spanning galactic war that test not only their own courage but what they know of themselves and each other. Robeasts and political machinations can hinder their way home, but with the help of some powerful robot lions they may just make it home.


Voltron: The Legendary Defender

 **AN: All characters are owned by WEP, Toei Animation, and DreamWorks TV animation, and it's subsidiaries (NBC/Comcast). Please note, this is an AU telling of the story of legendary defender and me trying to fix plot issues that appear to be in the story. New characters and the like will be based on the original series, and any OC's will be limited as I'm trying to work with what I have here. Please enjoy. (Also the Forest story is going in here but reworked.)**

Chapter 1: The Tale of the Beast King

Eons ago, well before the first Alteans made their way into space to colonize other worlds, there was a race of beings seen as far more powerful than any in the universe. Many, in time, turned them into mythic beings of immense power and presence. Their name has been lost to the ages, but their stories have been passed on over the generations. Stories of great and terrible deeds that helped shape our universe. They say the creatures were angelic like, with mighty wings and voices that could mesmerize even the darkest of hearts, and an unsurpassed beauty. In addition, with this beauty and power came ego and hubris

Many of these tales are told even now, though one in particular is only whispered of now that the Galra has come into power. That of the legend of Voltron.

The story begins that these great and powerful beings constructed Voltron from the very center of the galaxy, and imbued it with intelligence. The idea, to create a weapon to use against those that would challenge them, as well as to fight creatures that formed from the nothing of space. At first all was well and the Defender, called Voltron, a massive robotic creature that was shaped in the image of the beings greatest champion, did well to protect it's masters. Yet, as with all creatures with intellect, knowledge allows it to grow, and as it grew, without a strong hand guiding it, it's ego and pomposity grew far greater than that of it's creators.

Soon enough it had left the angelic beings' world to explore space, and was seen eventually as a creature of destruction rather than a defense. Over time a darkness began to grow, and broke free of another dimension, causing the universe to blacken and dim. One by one stars began to go out and the angelic race, who had held the universe in it's own grip of power, found itself bested by this ever encroaching invader.

Fear gripped the populace and those with power rose up against the angelic oppressors, leading to the angels wanting to lock themselves away from the problem. Yet one among their council realized the crisis and saw with it an opportunity to once more fix what their ancestors had started. Without hesitation, the council member insisted that a change was needed and offered up their services and plan to the others.

It was a simple plan, to use Voltron to stop the darkness, then, if the Beast King could not be controlled, seal it in the in between. Turn it back into it's metal form until it could be tamed once more. Such a plan was agreed to unanimously, and the Council member set off to find the Defender. For a long time the council member sought the great robot to no avail, until one fateful moment, when word got to the council member that their once glorious defender was seen fighting a great beast in the midst of space near the center of where the darkness had begun it's reign of terror.

The Council Member traveled through the wormholes that their ship created until – at last – they found the legendary defender of the universe locked in battle with a fearsome monster from the black pit of hell that was the epicenter of the darkness. With mighty blows Voltron smashed the beast, removing it's arms, legs and head and cleaved it into bits that froze in the void of space. Standing alone it raised it's sword as if to say, any that dare challenge me shall meet with just as grizzly a fate.

Nevertheless, the Council Member showed no fear of this Beast King and came at it with words. They spoke firmly, but honorably, at their ancestors' creation.

"Hear me oh Voltron, protector of space and those that dwell in this universe. I come to you in peace. Drop your sword and hear my plea."

But, Voltron was not listening, and attacked the ship, forcing the crew to protect itself. The council member, though small in size, had a strong heart and was able to push back the mighty Beast King as they projected themselves before the mighty Defender. The force field that was around the Council member kept them safe and they scowled at their people's creation as it again tried to attack, and, using words of warning it told the robot to stand down, or else.

"Attack again, oh mighty Voltron, and you will be punished. You, who were once a savior, now revel in blood and fear. This will not hold. We need your help to seal the darkness that threatens us all. Behold," the Council Member pointed to the black hole that was the center of the darkness. "There is your true enemy. Fight and save those that worship you. Save those that need you."

When Voltron saw what the Council member pointed to, it felt a jolt of anger at the dark hole that was undulating with dark, thick, energy waves. Sensing power that it had never fought before, and a challenge, the Beast King, flew off after the darkness ready to destroy it. The Council Member and their crew watched in awe as Voltron smashed through the dark barrier around the black hole, and gasped in shock as it materialized weapon after weapon to fight against the multitude of minions that came out after it.

The bodies of it's fallen enemies littered the space around it, as wave after wave of dark beings lashed out from the center of the hole where the darkness dwelt. But Voltron just kept on coming for it, covered in the blood of the monsters that dared to stop it. The Beast King soon grasped that the hole could not be fought normally, as it was just the opening for the darkness to come out of. Seeing that there was no way to fight, and realizing that it's power was low, the Beast King charged up for one last attack and called down upon it's flaming sword.

With a powerful set of slashes, it wounded the opening to the darkness and then unleashed into it a light beam from it's chest that used the magic from it's creators to seal the entrance to the darkness that had been consuming the universe. With a blast of bright light birthed by the seal, the hole in the fabric of reality had been shut, and the universe was once more saved.

The crew rejoiced aboard the council member's ship, but that was not for long. For soon after sealing the hole, Voltron turned once more on it's creators and came after the ship ready for a fight. The ship dodged and zoomed around, avoiding the Beast King's hands, shield and sword. However, the Council Member knew that no matter how long they ran Voltron would still be a danger.

Once more, the Member projected themselves into space and called on the Beast King. They bowed before it, speaking nobly. "Voltron Stop! We thank you for your help. But you must stop this behavior as it will come to no good to the people of this universe."

Voltron screamed out in response, denying this comment and slashed at the Council Member's projection, who blocked it once more with a force field. The power they had to use was more than they were ready for, and soon enough the Council Member knew that, in their weakened state, if they had to spend more time blocking the attacks of the robot, they would perish as would the crew of their ship.

At once, they tried to restrain the Defender, but Voltron broke free of the energy bonds. Realizing that there was no other choice, the Council Member, against the pleas of the crew, threw all their energy into one last stand with their people's creation.

"I have warned you time and again, oh great Defender, that your actions shall cost you greatly. Now, be punished justly for your acts of war and hubris. No longer as one, until you can learn to have a heart once more, you are here by split apart. Doomed to be pieces of a whole."

In an instance and a flash, Voltron split into five separate Lions. Each weakened by the blast and unconscious, easier to collect now that they were neutralized. Sadly, the attack and the spell used by the Council member was far too great, and had sapped them of most of their life energy. With one last request to their crew, they asked for the Lions to be merged by the other members of their race into a cocoon and hidden inside the in between of space, where all life energy came from, until such time when they were once again needed. Thus they died, sending their energy off into the galaxy.

Their request was heeded and the Lions of Voltron were sealed away inside a stone cocoon, and hidden in the depths of space, until the day, they were needed; but that is another story, for another time.

* * *

Kerberos, Pluto's Moon, Earth year 20XX

"Can you believe this place, it's really amazing," Matt Holt glanced over at Takashi Shirogane, who was sitting off to the side, glancing down at a photograph of his former boyfriend, Adam. His thumb brushed over the face of the young man with glasses as Matt walked over to him.

"Shiro…Hey, earth to Shiro?"

Shiro glanced up, blinked, then cleared his throat and put away the image, "Oh, uh, sorry about that, Matt. Something up?"

Matt shook his head and sat down next to him, "Not really, I was just saying how amazing Kerberos is. Space is really just an incredible place..."

"Oh, yeah. Totally. This is your first time away from earth isn't it? Must be really be incredible for you. " Shiro asked him and Matt nodded. The older man smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "I remember my first time in space. It was…amazing. All the stars and the way the sun looked. So distant, and it just twinkled there. Makes you think how small we really are at times…you know, on earth that is…"

"Yeah…it does…" Matt started and then paused seeing the picture peeking out of his friend's pocket. "But I don't think your mind was on the infinite wonders of space."

Shiro looked a bit sheepish at being found out and sighed lightly, "Show's doesn't it?"

"Uh huh." Matt pretended to wiggle invisible glasses, something he would do when he needed them, back before the eye surgery to allow him to go on the mission. "My mom always said you can never hide anything from an inquisitive mind."

Shiro smirked slightly, "Okay, Sherlock."

The two laughed and Matt gave him a concerned glance. "So, what happened? I know you and Adam haven't been seeing things eye to eye recently. I mean, you don't have to talk about it either, I'm still your under class-man."

Shiro gave him a weak smile and patted his shoulder, "No, it's fine. You're a friend Matt. You've always been."

Matt nodded, feeling a bit better at this concession, as Shiro crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall of their small sleeping quarters. The two were sitting on his bed and Matt pulled his legs up to cross them, yoga style, to listen, resting his elbows on his knees and leaning slightly forward.

"Adam…found out about the mission, and that I wanted to go."

"So I heard," Matt said simply, "But, you told Dad everything was okay…Why would you do that when it wasn't?"

Shiro closed his eyes and let out a long deep sigh. It had been a rough couple of weeks hiding this information from Doctor Holt, Sam was one of the best at figuring things out about Shiro, and it was hard to hide things from his former teacher. Sam was the reason he'd joined the garrison all those years ago in the first place. He was one of the few that had said he could be a space pioneer, even with his condition, so he hated lying to him like this. Now, maybe if he trusted Matt, it could help release some of the guilt he was feeling, for both Sam, and Adam.

He turned his head slightly towards Matt, "Adam gave me an ultimatum…"

Matt's eyes went wide and he nearly covered his mouth, "Oh no…"

"It was either him or the mission…" Shiro's gaze shifted downwards as he sat up, and Matt stared at him, feeling a great deal of empathy for his friend and pilot of their mission.

"And you chose the Mission…" Shiro nodded and Matt moved closer to sit next to him and put his hand on his shoulder. "I…Shiro, I'm so sorry. If we had known…we…"

"Admiral Senda barely gave me an okay. I wasn't about to force you to delay the mission because of me," Shiro said seriously and glanced down at the photo. He took a deep breath before he continued, trying to control his emotions. They were still jumbled up, and he still didn't know what to do with them. Anger at Adam for making him chose, pain for the break up, sadness that Adam felt the way he did, and he understood all of it. It was a logical thing to do, yet it still hurt that Adam had chosen to do that. He shook his head, gathering his thoughts and continued.

"This was important, to your dad, to you," he said looking directly at Matt, "And to me. I don't know how much time I have left before this…" He motioned to the monitor on his wrist, indicating the timer that told him when he was going to need to take his medication for his illness, "takes over and I'm not able to get out here, or even fly any more. I wanted to see space one more time. To experience that moment, when you got to see space, and for me to live out here before I'm stuck on earth and can only see the sky, with my feet on the ground."

Matt felt tears sting his eyes, "But what about Adam and…"

"Keith? I…I know…" Shiro furrowed his brow, "I told him that we'd fly together out here someday but…" he paused and put his hand on Matt's shoulder and smiled sadly. "You're gonna have to take my place on that, okay? Take pictures, lots of them Matt. I want to see his face when he's out here among the stars. You'll be my eyes and ears for that moment. Promise?"

"Yeah," Matt wiped his eyes. "Sure thing, Shiro."

"Thank you," Shiro said quietly and smiled when Matt gave him a hug.

"I'm sorry that this all happened…."

"Me too," was all Shiro could think to say and they stayed silent for a moment, then let go of one another. "But it was bound to happen sooner or later. Adam and I…we've been on two different paths lately."

"Huh?" Matt looked confused as Shiro stood up and stretched, then turned to face him.

"Well he's been focused more on the pilots program for the military arm of the Garrison rather than the space exploration aspect, and we've been arguing over that too. We've had fights over a few of his friends from there, because they're kind of rowdy and don't see space as something to really explore. He hasn't been happy with some things I've said about his commander, etcetera. Normal fights, but they've been piling up more and more, and we've been spending less and less time together." Shiro crossed his arms and looked a bit sullen.

"I should have seen this coming, but you know, as they say love makes you blind, and I was as blind as a bat. If it wasn't this, it was going to be something else, and I think, in some ways, he was having trouble with the idea that eventually I'm going to need help doing things that other people can do normally. So that probably added on to it."

"Yeah, I suppose," Matt admitted and sighed, "I can't say I fully understand. I really haven't had a serious girlfriend in like…well ever."

Shiro chuckled, "What? You? Come on, Matt. You're a good looking guy. You're bound to get some lucky girl's attention."

"Yeah I know, I mean I hope so at some point." Matt smiled at him, "but I wish I could honestly understand things better."

"It's okay, just listening helps," Shiro shrugged and then looked at him seriously. "So, can we keep this between you, me and the walls here? I'd rather your dad not know about the situation between Adam and me. I don't need him feeling guilty over it."

Matt zipped his lips, and hopped up off the bed. "Mums the word."

The two clasped hands and Shiro smiled. "Deal."

A sharp knock on the door alerted them to the arrival of Sam Holt who was outside in the corridor. His voice sounded muffled as he spoke, "Are you two decent? Can I come in?"

"Sure dad, we were just chilling and talking about space." Matt said as Shiro hit the button to open the door. Both blinked and stared at the man that stood outside, and Matt cocked his head to the side when he saw him. "Um…Dad…why are you dressed up in your space suit? Aren't we supposed to leave tomorrow?"

"Well I figured, this will be the last chance to get some additional samples before we leave." Sam Holt grinned happily, holding something behind his back. Something that both young men figured would be space suits.

"I take it, no is not an option, Sir?" Shiro asked in a slightly teasing fashion, and glanced over at Matt who shrugged and nodded.

"No, it is not."

"Then, we will happily accompany you, Sir." Shiro told him and Sam beamed, pulling out the space suits from behind him.

"I knew you'd agree."

Moments later the group was dressed and out on the surface of Pluto's moon, surrounded by silence and the stars. Millions of lights twinkled in the darkness, each a glowing ball of energy somewhere out in the galaxy.

The group worked happily, talking about plans when they went home. How exciting the trip had been for Matt and what Shiro planned to do when he got back. Sam insisted that he bring Adam and Keith over to eat with them at some point, with Shiro agreeing to the offer, although he seemed to indicate that it would only be him and Keith coming, as Adam, he felt, would be busy with other things at the time.

Things seemed to be moving along well. The ice samplings came up beautifully. Sam collected the first two and allowed Matt the chance to collect the last.

"Easy son, this ice is delicate," Sam warned Matt as Shiro held the long tube for him and the younger man carefully slid the piece of ice out.

"Amazing, isn't this exciting Shiro?" Matt asked him and Shiro gave him a wary smile.

"You guys get a little more excited about ice samples than I do."

Sam simply shook his head, noting to the young pilot how important this was and the history they were making. They were the first to travel to the moon of Pluto, and if all went well, the samplings from the ice they collected could hold the key to life outside of earth. Matt smiled brightly agreeing, and mentioned to his dad that now they would probably have enough samples to indicate some form of life farther off in the galaxy, if the tests went well. Shiro hid a chuckle. While he bought that there were aliens out farther than their little solar system, he didn't expect them to be showing up any time soon.

He soon had to eat his words as a shadow loomed over them. A giant unknown ship, massive, and threatening, came overhead. Sam gasped in awe, but Matt realized that this couldn't be good, and Shiro's instinct was to protect Sam and Matt. It was his job as the Pilot to keep them safe, and he wasn't about to let anyone harm them. Without a bit of hesitation he grabbed hold of Matt's arm and dragged him and Sam along, pulling them away from what he figured was a war class cruiser of some sort.

The trio bolted for their ship, Shiro mentally praying to all the gods that his family had prayed to over the years, to keep them safe and bring them back on board that ship. But all the prayers in the world couldn't stop what happened next as the strange ship beamed them up. With a energy beam that was something out of a science fiction novel. The last thing Shiro was able to do was hit a remote SOS, and send the signal back to earth.

On board the ship the trio were in pitch black darkness, and Shiro kept the other two close.

"What's happening?" Sam asked, his nerves on edge, and he gripped his son's arm. "Matt, is that you?"

"I'm right here dad." Matt said, trying to get his eyes adjusted and he said in a soft whisper, "Shiro…what's going on?"

"I'm not sure," the pilot admitted, he cursed himself for not having a weapon on him for defense, but he made sure to keep a hand on both of the Holts as they stood there. "No one move, not yet. We don't know if they're friends or…"

His words were cut short as he felt something suddenly hit him hard in the back of the head and he fell to his knees. Everything began to blur and all he could make out were the shouts of Sam and Matt which were muffled to him, these he heard until the darkness swallowed him. When Shiro next saw light, he found himself in an odd room. A tall, purple, looking humanoid was standing before a screen, talking in…a language he couldn't understand at first, and then…the words oddly started to make sense.

"Emperor Zarkon," The captain was speaking to a shadowy person on screen, "We were scouting system X9y as ordered when we found these primitive scientist. They have not yielded any useful information," the alien was saying.

From what Shiro could make out, even as his head was swimming, the room they were in was some sort of bridge. On his right was Matt and Sam, still in their space suits, but their helmets still on their heads. He couldn't tell their condition, but all three were kneeling on the floor, held there by armed guards. The guards, looked like something he'd seen on a sci-fi anime he'd watched as a kid. Robotic in nature with glowing chests, and deadly. He figured that the one that was before the screen was probably the captain of the ship they were on, as it was clear that he held the posture of one that believed he was important.

"Take them back to the main fleet for interrogation and bring them to the Druids, perhaps they can gather what you could not." A deeper voice said, and the words made Shiro shudder. .

Shiro shifted some, and the guard seemed to let him move slightly, giving him a view of the screen. There another alien, who's face was in shadow was talking to the captain that held them…What exactly? Prisoner? For ransom? Shiro wasn't sure, but his gut told him that he needed to do something in this situation.

"I don't think they know where they are…The ship had no indication of it…they do seem healthy enough though for…" the captain was muttering as if debating something to tell the shadow figure when Shiro raised his voice.

"Please we come from a peaceful planet. We mean you no harm. We're unarmed. We're just space explorers, we don't have anything that you could want.…"

The captain glanced down at him from over his shoulder, and Shiro got a good gander at him. The creature had a face that Shiro could only describe as, reptile like, and for only a second did they lock eyes and then over the captain looked over at the guard behind him and, nodded. Shiro felt the hard blunt end of a gun hit him in the back of the head again, knocking him out once more. When he woke again, he was in a different place, and only one person was with him this time. He lifted his gaze and saw his feet and realized he was being dragged. Either Matt, or Sam, was being escorted behind him, still with the helmet over their head, so he wasn't sure which it was. His brown eyes tried to take in everything around him.

They were walking down a sloped inclined hallway. The guards were the same as before, but another guard had joined the first. Shiro could barely feel his legs, and he wondered how long he had been out. He glanced at the glass windows as they passed it, and saw cells, a multitude of them. They stacked up higher than he could see. They seemed to go on forever. He mentally began to freak out. Were they on some sort of prison ship? Was he going to die here? He had to protect Matt and Sam, but he didn't know who was behind him.

His eyes went wide with horror as he came to the realization that no one knew where they were, and no one was going to know where to find them, even as they dragged him and the other person down into the bowels of the ship.

* * *

Earth 20XX, one year later…

Keith Kogane sat up when the rays of the morning sun flashed in his face from the window under the couch where he laid down to rest. He rubbed them and ruffled his hair as he yawned and tried to get his head back in the game. First thing he needed was food, then, possibly, a shower…or was it better to do it the other way around? He wasn't sure, but what he did know, was that he needed to get back to work.

He let his eyes adjust to the light and took in the room. Nothing had changed, save for the color of the walls. In the dark night, they looked like a deep brown, now in the day they were more of a cedar color. Keith rolled his eyes, what did it really matter what the color of the place looked like or how clean it was. No one was coming to see him, he'd burned all his bridges the day he slugged Iverson, and he was sure, at some point, that if he showed his face in town in the daylight hours someone would call the Garrison on him and he could get arrested.

"Not like anyone would care if I was," he muttered getting up and cleaning the small mess he had. Instant noodle cups, and other fast cook microwave dinners were sitting on the small table, and he pushed them into a trash bag. He pulled out the marker to mark the date on the calendar and then went about checking the equipment for signals. The read outs were the same as before, but he couldn't make heads or tails of them.

"Why didn't I pay more attention in class when they were talking about reading frequencies," Keith shook his head and answered himself. "Because I thought they were boring, that's why. Well good job Keith for messing that up."

He made his way into the small makeshift kitchen, and again cleaned up the minor messes of cans and the few plates that he had. Keith washed what was in the sink, then pulled some breakfast from the mini fridge, along with fruit and juice, shoved it into the microwave and went into the miniscule bathroom to wash up and dress. Feeling a bit better after switching clothing –he was going to have to do laundry again that week –Keith grabbed his food and went back into the living room.

The building where he was staying at one time had been an addition to his old house, long since demolished after the fire that had raged through the building. His father, a firefighter, had also been an amateur astronomer and had come out there frequently, when he thought Keith was sleeping, to fiddle with various devices that gave him readings from stars in space. Keith had never fully understood it, but he'd loved spending time with his Dad watching the stars and learning about them from the man that he idolized.

"That's mars right?" he'd asked as a child pointing to the red speck in the sky. His father had nodded, and then he pointed to another random dot in the sky, "And that's Neptune."

"No, that's Venus, but close enough," his father had laughed as they sat on the blanket looking out at the desert sky. Keith could remember the smell of the night wind as it blew, the cool air, and the warmth of his father's arms as he drifted off to sleep listening to the man read him stories about fantastical beings that dwelt among the stars.

Had either of them known that a shooting star firecracker would have been the cause of his death, Keith knew his father would have found it ironic. But he was a fireman first, and he'd gone back in the building to save their family friend. Sure enough, she'd made it out fine, but his dad…the smoke had been too much…and there was no way to save the house after either. It had become a shell of smoking burnt timber, and Keith had lost everything that night.

He turned his eyes to the blanket that lay beside him, one of the few things that had been recovered and saved from the blaze, and pulled it onto his lap for comfort. Keith glanced over the writings he'd made in the past few days. The signal, as far as he understood, was coming more frequently and had been for several weeks now. He'd wished then and there that he would have asked his dad more about the equipment that he had set up, but as a kid he was more interested in playing as a pilot for the Garrison, or as a firefighter, than learning about weird numbers and points on a graph. At least he did understand portions of it, thanks to the boy with the orange bandana, but it had never been his forte.

When the timer went off Keith got up and grabbed his food then sat down and turned on the local news. His dad had put a number of things in the small shed. A phone, for emergency use only, (Keith was now using it to make calls out when he needed to order something from the store), a tv and radio, to keep abreast of things happening, books and magazines regarding space and aliens and signals from out there. He never fully understood his dad's fascination with the unknown, but he was glad now that his father had had it. For the past several months he'd been having weird dreams of creatures that he didn't fully understand. People that looked like elves, bizarre purple monsters, weird creatures that reminded him of water bears and insects, multi-armed fish people, it was all too weird and wild for him. Yet he felt there was something to his dreams, but he didn't understand what.

Then there was the lion, the black looming, roaring beast that stalked him during the dreams, and hiding just out of his reach. He was sure it was watching him, but he didn't know why? It scared him, and yet he wanted to reach out and find out more about it.

Munching on some bacon he glanced at the screen and saw Iverson's face on screen. The news reporter was asking questions about a new missions that the Garrison had planned, closer to earth, and he scowled and muted the tv, then threw the remote against the back of the arm chair across from the couch.

"Like they care about what happens to anyone but themselves," he growled. For over a year Shiro, Dr. Holt, and his son, Matt, had been missing. For over a year, the Garrison had claimed that there was an accident and that the crew had died. Keith never believed it. Shiro was way too good a pilot to fail a check before taking off, and there was no way he would put either of the Holt's in danger. He wasn't that sort of pilot, and wasn't that sort of person. It wasn't like him. Sure mistakes would be made, and Shiro made plenty of those, but, even with him being sick, he was always careful.

Keith had seen it himself. Seen him take cautions before he did anything too risky. Check the monitor on his wrist, and if the reading told him something was wrong, Shiro would know not to engage in whatever activity they were about to do.

The young man leaned back and stared up at the ceiling. There were so many questions, and no answers. Even when he'd tried to get Adam to look into it, he'd just said that there was nothing to look into and to drop it. Shiro didn't tell him what happened before he left, but Keith was sure that something had gone down between them, and he was angry. Angry at the fact that Adam didn't seem to care, and more angry at the fact that the Garrison was hiding things. Especially from Matt's sister and mother.

He'd never met them, but Shiro had mentioned them before, once or twice in passing. And he'd seen Matt around the Garrison. Matt had even said hi to him a few times, though Keith had felt awkward at the time to say hello back, since they were in different classes and levels. Still, he was sure that somewhere in town Matt's mother probably cried herself to sleep, not knowing the truth about where her son and husband were.

He'd seen her at the Memorial a few weeks after the incident, sitting there, with a girl beside her, dressed in black. From where he was sitting with the other cadets he could see that the girl was hurt as well, but he didn't get a good look at her. Mrs. Holt had been ridged, obviously unhappy with the comments that were being made, but Keith wasn't sure how to approach her, and he had his own grief that he was dealing with, with Shiro being gone.

Then had come Iverson's comment, and the punch, and now he didn't feel he was in the right to go see her and talk to her about it at all. At least, not till he knew what had really happened. He had just finished his meal, and was starting on the fruit, when one of the signal detectors went off. Getting up Keith shoved the slice of melon in his mouth, wiped his hands on a towel, and then went over to the read out that was printing. It was different and weird. Not like the first ones that he'd gotten when he'd turned the machines on in over a decade.

Keith tore the piece off and brought it over to the corkboard his dad had up; lining the board were drawings of peculiar symbols, photos of the various landmarks around the area, and news clippings of UFOs, along with older read outs that his dad had pinned up. Anyone looking at it would say his father was a conspiracy nut, but to Keith this was all a puzzle that he would solve for his father and himself.

He examined the new lines, tried to figure out the location on the maps that he had, then made two new pins on the board, and stepped back to look at things. Frowning the young man tilted his head this way and that, seeing if it made a difference. It didn't.

He groaned and crashed back down on the couch. "Why can't you be smarter?!"

Keith leaned his head back and let his arms rests across the top of the couch. He needed to get out. Get away. Clear his head. Standing he grabbed his jacket, keys, a cellphone, and a small camera, then headed outside. The hovercraft was ready and waiting, and, after a quick check to see if it was charged enough, Keith headed out, riding along the desert and letting the wind and the sun wash away his concerns. It was just him and the open air out there.

It had become a pattern for him ever since he'd left the Garrison. He'd found himself being drawn out into the desert and finding things, as if something was calling him. Keith never quiet understood it, but he felt compelled to look, and search for where the feeling was coming from. It had brought him, as it did now, to a cave where markings were. He'd found them before, in different locations, but didn't fully understand them.

Landing nearby, he slid off the rider and walked quickly into the cave, only to be greeted once more by a group of drawings.

"Same as always," he muttered and started to snap some photos. Instinctively he ran his hand along the rough carved designs, tracing them. Outlandish creatures that looked like they had masks on, danced around some weird giant red cat or lion, that he'd seen in other drawings. The art work was, amazing, to him. That someone hundreds of years ago could make something like this was very cool. He wondered if the people that had made the drawings gazed up at the stars like he and his dad used to. He also wondered if they ever felt as small and unsure like he did at times.

Keith spent the rest of the day letting the feeling drive him to wherever he needed to go. He took notes, and documented and decoded what he could from the art. Over the last several months, he'd gotten good decoding pictures, or glyphs, as he thought they were now, indicating that something was coming. Something big.

As he headed into the last cave, twilight was starting to fall and he knew it would be best to leave ASAP. Night in the desert was no walk on the beach, no matter what the movies had shown him when he was little. It was cold, freezing even, and he didn't have any camping gear to use. Not to mention the wild animals that came out, that could attack him, even if most were more scared of him. Then there were the bugs, and those he was more worried about, as one sting from some scorpion could render him in pain for several hours to several days. And that was something he didn't want.

Keith flicked on the small flashlight he had with him on his belt and took a look at the cave drawings. The light was dwindling but something about this last set made him want to stay and discover what it said. Keith crouched down and started to draw as quickly as he could, knowing that, somehow, these last glyphs were important. Once he was finished drawing, and had taken a picture to make sure he had them all, he got back on his hovercraft and rode towards the shack.

Inside he tossed his jacket to the side, and printed out the pictures that he took, saving the ones he thought were needed at the moment on the table, the others he put near the board to pin them later. Sitting down he started to decode the drawings one by one, going over his notes. Each drawing was either a word, or meant some sort of location, or spelled something out with letters. It wasn't easy, but Keith had gotten the hang of it after trial and error. Now he had a whole notebook full of the drawings and knew exactly how to decode the whole thing.

"Fr…From…the…hear, no that's not right," he read as he went between art and notebook, writing words down and sounding out sentences. "From the heavens…yeah that makes more sense…from the heavens what? From the heavens a great star…star? Okay, a great star sha…shall fall? And call the champion to wake? What?"

Keith shook his head; this made no sense at all. Was it talking about a shooting star? Something else? A meteorite? Some sort of ancient satalite? He couldn't tell, but kept going anyway.

"Okay so when will this champion wake? Before the morn on the…" he glanced at the numbers then the calender then the numbers again and stared. "Wait…that's today…But…" his eyes scanned the rest of the glyphs quickly to get the rest of the message.

"From the heavens a great star shall fall and call the champion to wake, before the morn on the…" he muttered to himself, "in the light of the guiding night goddess shall the star rise and shake those that would hold the universe in it's grip."

Keith frowned, "Something big is going to happen tonight…but what they mean by great star?"

His thoughts were disrupted by his father's equipment going off. He got up, nearly knocking over his work and clicked on the radio frequency to listen. At first there was static, then some weird language that he didn't understand and chatter. Words flew by but he couldn't make head nor tail of them. Then, something familiar came through, a voice he hadn't heard in over a year, and that nearly made him drop his headphones.

"Hello, Mayday. This is Officer Takashi Shirogane of the Galaxy Garrison. Please, if you hear me. I need assistance. I'm going to crash…" static then the message repeated. Keith trembled and backed away from the machine and rushed outside to see in the sky what looked like a shooting star flying overhead and crash land farther out from his home.

"Shiro…"

In no time, at all he had his jacket on, a cover over his mouth, and his knife at the ready. He wasn't about to let the Garrison get a hold of Shiro, not now, not when he knew his friend could be in serious danger. He didn't trust them, he didn't trust any of them, and wouldn't allow them to hurt him.

 _Hang on Shiro…I'm coming._ He thought before riding off after the smoke trail.


End file.
